Online news is killing newspapers

Online news has overtaken newspapers for the first time ever, in terms of where people regularly get their news fix from.

The PEJ State of the Media report shows that, as 2010 was drawing to a close, online news was the only news platform that was gaining an audience rather than losing one - up 17.1 per cent year-on-year. Even the most popular news source, TV, saw lost audiences throughout the year - local TV was down 1.5 per cent and network TV 3.4 per cent.

But it's the digital print beating the physical print for the first time that really shows what a web-savvy society we've become. 46 per cent of people now say they get news online at least three times a week, as opposed to 40 per cent for newspapers.

And when it comes to where we're getting our online fix from, 47 per cent of the Americans quizzed for the annual poll said that they get some kind of local news on their mobile devices.

In the UK, newspaper circulations have been falling rapidly as the broadband revolution takes our green and pleasant land by storm. In the December 2010 ABC figures all 14 daily national newspapers experienced a decline year-on-year, with traditional broadsheets such as The Times (down 17.21 per cent), The Telegraph (down 12.28 per cent) and The Guardian (down 11.35 per cent) being the hardest hit - although all three enjoy huge online readerships (or at least they all did until Uncle Rupert stuck a ruddy great paywall up around The Times' online platform).

2010 was also the first year in which online advertising scored more dollars than newspaper advertising. It increased 13.9 per cent to $25.8 billion in total, although search advertising would have scored a large proportion of this figure.

So, the findings are clear - online is where it's at. So put that dirty print newspaper down, save your fingers getting mucky and stick around on Pocket-lint for all your tech news.

Where do you get your daily news fix from? Let us know using the comments below.